Middle point zero reference

ABSTRACT

A cardiac electrophysiology system including a means for identifying the source of an arrhythmia in the heart is disclosed. The disclosed system may be an electrocardiograph device and may generate an enhanced electrocardiogram (EKG) of a cardiac structure. The disclosed system may include a disclosed catheter inserted into a chamber of the cardiac structure. The disclosed catheter may include electrodes configured to measure an analog electrical signal of the electrical activity of the cardiac structure over time, and a transformer configured to remove a direct current (DC) offset of the analog electrical signal to generate an analog electrical signal centered at 0 volts (V), which may be sampled by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and gain adjusted to a maximum resolution of the ADC to produce an enhanced digital electrocardiogram (EKG) signal.

SUMMARY

A cardiac electrophysiology system including a means for identifying thesource of an arrhythmia in the heart is disclosed. The disclosed systemmay be an electrocardiograph device and may generate an enhancedelectrocardiogram (EKG) of a cardiac structure. The disclosed system mayinclude a disclosed catheter inserted into a chamber of the cardiacstructure. The disclosed catheter may include electrodes configured tomeasure an analog electrical signal of the electrical activity of thecardiac structure over time, and a transformer configured to remove adirect current (DC) offset of the analog electrical signal to generatean analog electrical signal centered at 0 volts (V), which may besampled by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and gain adjusted to amaximum resolution of the ADC to produce an enhanced digitalelectrocardiogram (EKG) signal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example electrocardiograph device100, in accordance with the disclosures herein;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an example catheter that may beincluded in the example electrocardiograph device of FIG. 1, inaccordance with the disclosures herein; and

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an example procedure for generating anenhanced electrocardiogram (EKG) with single middle point zero referenceinside the heart, in accordance with the disclosures herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Electrocardiography is a type of cardiology test that measures andrecords the electrical activity of the heart over a period of time usingelectrodes placed on the skin and/or inside the heart using a catheter.These electrodes detect the small electrical changes that arise from theheart muscle's electro-physiologic pattern of depolarizing during eachheartbeat and thus can be used to detect abnormal cardiac conditions,such as myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism, structural heartdisease (e.g., cardiac murmur), or cardiac arrhythmia.Electrocardiography may be performed by an electrocardiograph machineand the resulting testing produces an electrocardiogram (abbreviatedequivalently as EKG or ECG) showing the electrical signals in the heart,typically as graph of the voltage of the heart's electrical activityover time.

An example electrocardiograph system may include twelve leads and tenelectrodes placed on the patient's limbs and on the surface of thechest. The overall magnitude of the electrical potential of the heart ismeasured from the twelve leads, each corresponding to a differentmeasurement angle, and is recorded over a period of time.Electrocardiography performed with intracardiac electrodes, that are forexample mounted on a catheter placed inside a chamber of the heart,produce and EKG referred to as an intracardiac electrocardiogram (ICEG),and may be utilized in combination with, or in the alternative to, theconventional twelve leads placed on the exterior of the patient. Inorder to measure heart muscle electrical activity, the EKG electrodeshave to be able to detect very small changes in potential energy on thepatient's skin or heart tissue. For example, the electrical changes maybe detected by EKG electrodes as cardiac electrical signals measuring onthe order of 1 millivolt (mV) or less. An ICEG may be able to captureelectrical morphologies that may not be detected on an EKG using surfaceelectrodes on the body surface only, or at least with more accuracy incertain cases.

During each heartbeat, a healthy heart has an orderly progression ofdepolarization. This orderly pattern of depolarization gives rise to thecharacteristic EKG tracing. To the trained clinician, the morphology ofthe EKG signal conveys a large amount of information about the structureof the heart and the function of its electrical conduction system. Amongother things, an EKG can be used to measure the rate and rhythm ofheartbeats, the size and position of the heart chambers, the presence ofany damage to the muscle cells or conduction system of the heart, theeffects of cardiac drugs, and the function of implanted pacemakers.Interpretation of the EKG is fundamentally about understanding theelectrical conduction system of the heart. Normal conduction starts andpropagates in a predictable pattern, and deviation from this pattern canbe a normal variation or be pathological.

While EKGs produced by existing electrocardiograph systems are widelyused in diagnosing and monitoring cardiac conditions, they have someknown limitations. For example, an arrhythmia is a rhythm defect in theheart in which the heart beats irregularly, too fast, or too slow.Initial detection of a cardiac arrhythmia may be possible by thesimplest of means, such as auscultation of the heartbeat or feeling forperipheral pulses, however more advanced testing is needed to diagnosethe specific arrhythmia, which typically involves miniscule electricalsignals that can only be detected when a high degree of accuracy isused. A conventional ICEG, employing intracardiac electrodes, mayprovide specific diagnostic testing for assessment of arrhythmias, butin many cases may not be an accurate way to detect the specific sourceof the arrhythmia in the heart tissue, as explained below.

In a conventional intracardiac electrocardiograph system, an EKGelectrode in contact with the skin and/or cardiac tissue measures heartsignal current flowing into the electrode as a positive charge, andheart signal current flowing away from the electrode as a negativecharge, to produce a voltage reading of the heart's electrical signalsover time. A goal of an electrocardiograph system is to minimize theartifacts and maximize the accuracy of the EKG signal in order toprovide reliable information to the physician.

Impedance (i.e., the opposition to the electrical current) due to thepatient's internal geometry can be problematic for the accuracy of anEKG by distorting the accuracy of voltage readings provided at an EKGelectrode. As a result, it may be difficult to localize the source ofthe arrhythmia in the heart in the presence of the impedance caused bythe surrounding body. For example, various body types such as largebones, high muscle mass or high obesity, may have different distortioneffects on how a particular electrical signal from the heart is read bythe EKG electrodes.

The disclosed electrocardiograph system and method improves the accuracyof EKGs for purposes of identifying the source of the arrhythmia andother conditions in the heart tissue by mitigating the distortioneffects of the inherent impedance in the cardiac structure. Instead ofusing the heart's voltage as a reference voltage, a transformer (e.g.,mounted on the catheter) that emits a low electric charge is placedinside the heart to create voltage signals recognized by the EKGelectrodes to remove the voltage bias. For example, the electric chargeemitted by the transformer may be on the order of several microvolts(μV) (e.g., in the range of 1-100 μV, or other example ranges). Thus,the transformer serves to find and isolate the control point, which isthe area of maximum sensitivity where there is maximum change per unitof voltage due to the cardiac electrical activity.

Thus, according to the disclosed electrocardiograph system and method,the EKG electrodes are set together at the same middle point zeroreference point and therefore measure cardiac electrical signals basedon the charge emitted by the transformer inside the heart. Creating thissingle middle point zero reference inside the heart removes distortionsdue to impedance (e.g., caused by the geometry of the patient's internalbody structure).

The catheter comprising the transformer and EKG electrodes may be movedaround in the heart (e.g., by the physician physically moving thecatheter via a handle) while emitting a small electric charge tostimulate the portion of the heart tissue causing the arrhythmia. Forexample, the electric charge emitted for stimulating cardiac tissue maybe on the order of several millivolts (mV) (e.g., in the range of 1-100mV, or other example ranges). The specific location of an arrhythmia maybe located by the catheter because the muscle tissue causing thearrhythmia will respond, as atrial fibrillations, to the catheter sothat the physician can isolate the arrhythmia on the EKG. Once thespecific location of the arrhythmia in the heart is identified with thecatheter, the EKG electrodes can take measurements of the isolatedsignals from the arrhythmia. The resulting EKG can be used as a moreaccurate tool to identify the source of an arrhythmia in the heart andto study the isolated heart tissue causing an arrhythmia.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example electrocardiograph device100, in accordance with the disclosures herein. The electrocardiographdevice 100 may include, but is not limited to include, any of thefollowing components: console system 101; intracardiac leads 107connected to a catheter 120 with distal end 114 inserted into the heart126 of the patient 105; non-contact electrodes 116 located at the distalend 114 of catheter 120; transformer 118 located at the distal end 114of catheter 120; and leads 110 connected to electrodes 112 positioned invarious locations on the skin of the patient 105. The console system 101may include, but is not limited to include, any of the followingcomponents: analog-to-digital converter (ADC or A/D converter) 125;processor 130; data storage 155; data port printers 160; input/output(I/O) devices 165; visual display device 170; and/or energy sourcedevice 175. The processor 130 may include, but is not limited toinclude, any one or more of the following components: video controller135; digital signal processor (DSP) 140; microprocessor 145; and/ormicrocontroller 150.

The catheter 120, leads 107 and 110, electrodes 112 and 116, transformer118, and/or other components not shown (e.g., additional catheters,sensors, etc.) of the electrocardiograph device 100 may be used directlyon, in, and/or in proximity to the patient 105 in order to gatherinformation to be used for visualization, diagnostics, and therapy(e.g., ablation therapy). This information may be provided to theconsole system 101 for processing, visualization and operator controland direction, some of which is described below.

The series of leads 110 and intracardiac leads 107 connect electrodes112 on the surface of the skin of the patient 105 and electrodes 116 onthe catheter 120 inside the heart 126, respectively, to the main console101 of the electrocardiograph device 100. In an example, intracardiaccatheter 120 may be used for diagnostic and/or therapeutic treatment,such as for mapping electrical potentials in the heart 126 of thepatient 105. In an example, the catheter 120 may be inserted into thevascular system of the patient 105 so that the distal end 114 of thecatheter 120 enters a chamber of the patient's heart 126. Although FIG.1 shows a single catheter 120 and intracardiac lead 107, additionalcatheters and leads, not shown, with one or more electrodes,transformers and/or sensors may be similarly used. Moreover, anelectrocardiograph device 100 may use only surface electrodes 112, oronly intracardiac electrodes 116, or both the surface electrodes 112 andintracardiac electrodes 116 for the EKG readings.

A raw EKG signal 115 (i.e., analog input signal) is acquired from theelectrodes 112 and/or 116 and converted from an analog to a digitalformat by the adjustable gain ADC 125. The ADC 125 generates andprovides a digital output 117 of the EKG signal 115 by sampling theanalog input signal 115 at a sampling rate. The resolution of the ADC125 indicates the number of discrete values that the ADC 125 can produceover the range of analog values, and can be defined electrically involts. The number of voltage intervals that the ADC 125 can produce isgiven by 2^(M), where M is the ADC's resolution in bits.

In an example, the ADC 125 may be implemented as an application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC) with 24 bits of resolution, a dynamic range of0 V to 5 V, and an adjustable gain. Then, the ADC 125 has a maximumvoltage resolution defined over the 5 V range of 5V/2²⁴=0.30 μV. If aninput signal is greater than 5 V, (e.g., 6 V), then it is out of rangeand cannot be sampled by the ADC 125. Similarly, if an analog inputsignal (e.g., a sine wave) has an amplitude of only 1 V, but is centeredat 6 V DC offset, then the input signal is still out of range and cannotbe sampled by the ADC 125. In another example, a meaningful analog EKGsignal may have a maximum amplitude fluctuation on the order of 1 mV,but may have a 3 V DC bias. Then, the 24 bit resolution of the ADC 125is used over the entire 3 V range and therefore cannot be used toprovide a finer resolution of the smaller fluctuations.

However, if the transformer 118 is used, then the transformer 118 in theheart eliminates the DC offset of the cardiac electrical signal, so thatthe captured EKG signal is centered around 0V and the entire 24 bitsresolution of the ADC 125 can be used to isolate the control point,which is the area of maximum sensitivity where there is maximum changeper unit of voltage due to the cardiac electrical activity. Once thedirect current (DC) offset is removed, the analog EKG signal may beamplified to the range of the ADC converter 125 (e.g., to 5 V) so thatthe entire scale of the resolution of the ADC converter 125 is used. Forexample, if the range of the ADC 124 is 5 V and the amplitude of themeasured EKG signal is 1 mV, then a gain of 500 can be applied to theEKG signal to make use of the entire dynamic range.

Once the analog signal is converted, the ADC 125 communicates thedigital EKG signal to the processor 130 to produce the EKG graph and/orperform other EKG analysis. Processor 130 may be coupled to data storage155, data ports and printers 160, other I/O devices 165, and a visualdisplay device 170, which may be used to display the EKG produced byelectrocardiograph device 100. The electrocardiograph device 100 and/orany of the components therein may be powered by one or more energysources 175.

Data storage 155 is any device that records information. Data storagemay provide a storage medium for the signals included within device 100and a place for calculations of processor 130 to be stored.

Microprocessor 145 may be a computer processor which incorporates thefunctions of a computer's central processing unit (CPU) on a singleintegrated circuit (IC), or a few integrated circuits. Microprocessor145 may be a multipurpose, clock driven, register based, programmableelectronic device which accepts digital or binary data as input,processes it according to instructions stored in its memory or datastorage 155, and provides results as output. Microprocessor 145 containsboth combinational logic and sequential digital logic.

Micro controller 150 may be one or more small computers on a singleintegrated circuit. Micro controller 150 may contain one or more CPUsalong with memory and programmable input/output peripherals. Programmemory in the form of Ferroelectric RAM, NOR flash or OTP ROM is alsooften included on chip, as well as a small amount of RAM.Microcontrollers are designed for embedded applications, in contrast tothe microprocessors used in personal computers or other general purposeapplications consisting of various discrete chips.

DSP 140 may perform digital signal processing to perform a wide varietyof signal processing operations. The signals processed in this mannerare a sequence of numbers that represent samples of a continuousvariable in a domain such as time, space, or frequency. Digital signalprocessing can involve linear or nonlinear operations. Nonlinear signalprocessing is closely related to nonlinear system identification and canbe implemented in the time, frequency, and spatio-temporal domains. Theapplication of digital computation to signal processing allows for manyadvantages over analog processing in many applications, such as errordetection and correction in transmission as well as data compression.DSP is applicable to both streaming data and static (stored) data.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an example catheter 220 that may beincluded in the example electrocardiograph device 100 of FIG. 1 (e.g.,catheter 120 in FIG. 1), in accordance with the disclosures herein. Thecatheter 220 may be connected to an electrocardiograph console via lead207. The catheter 220 may include, but is not limited to include, anyone or more of the following components: distal end 214; electrodes 216;transformer 218; positioning sensors 221; distal tip 228; handle 232;and/or controls 234.

The distal end 214 of the catheter 220 may include electrodes 216 at thedistal tip 228 that may be used to measure electrical properties of thecardiac tissue. The electrodes 216 may also be used to send electricalsignals to the heart for diagnostic purposes. The electrodes 216 mayalso perform ablation on defective cardiac tissue by applying energy(e.g., RF energy) directly to the cardiac tissue at the desired locationof ablation. In an example, the electrodes 216 may include non-contactelectrodes arranged in an array, which may be used to simultaneouslyreceive and measure far-field electrical signals from the walls of theheart chamber of the patient. The electrodes 216 provide informationregarding the electrical properties of the heart to anelectrocardiograph console for processing.

The distal end 214 includes transformer 218 that may eliminate the DCoffset in a captured analog EKG signal, so that the captured EKG signalis centered on 0 V to isolate the control point, which is the area ofmaximum sensitivity where there is maximum change per unit of voltagedue to the cardiac electrical activity.

The distal end 214 may include positioning sensors 221 (also calledlocation sensors) in the distal tip 228 of the catheter 220 that maygenerate signals used to determine the position and orientation (and/ordistance) of the catheter 220 in the body. In an example, the relativeposition and orientation of the positioning sensors 221, the electrodes216, and the distal tip 228 are fixed and known in order to facilitateaccurate positioning information of the distal tip 228. For example, theposition of the positioning sensors 221 may be determined in part basedon the relative position to known positions outside the heart (e.g.,based on extra-cardiac sensors, not shown). The use of positioningsensors 221 may provide improved location accuracy within the magneticfields in the surrounding space and provide location information that isadaptable to patient movement because the position information of thecatheter 220 is relative to the anatomy of the patient.

The handle 232 of the catheter 220 may be operated by the physician andmay include controls 234 to enable the physician to effectively steerthe distal tip 228 in the desired direction.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an example procedure 300 for generating anenhanced EKG with single middle point zero reference inside the heart,in accordance with the disclosures herein. The example procedure 300 maybe implemented in an electrocardiograph system, such as the exampleelectrocardiograph device 100 of FIG. 1.

At 302, an analog electrical signal of the electrical activity of thecardiac structure over time may be captured, for example usingelectrodes located on an intracardiac catheter and/or on the surface ofthe skin. At 304, the DC offset of the analog electrical signal may beremoved, for example using an intracardiac transformer, to generate ananalog electrical signal centered at zero. At 306, the analog electricalsignal centered at zero may be sampled and a gain of the analogelectrical signal centered at zero may be adjusted to the maximum rangeto produce a digital EKG signal. At 308, the digital EKG signal may beprocessed for output to the user, for example as an EKG reading printedor displayed on a visual display device.

Many variations are possible based on the disclosure herein. Althoughfeatures and elements are described above in particular combinations,each feature or element can be used alone without the other features andelements or in various combinations with or without other features andelements.

The systems and procedures described herein may be implemented inhardware, and/or software. A computer-based system for performingelectrocardiography may be capable of running software modules thatintroduce additional features including the procedures described herein.The procedures described herein may enable advanced cardiacvisualization, and diagnostic capabilities to enhance clinicians'ability to diagnose and treat heart rhythm disorders. Although theprocedures disclosed herein are describe with respect toelectrocardiography procedures within the heart, the devices andprocedures may be similarly used for electrophysiology procedures inother parts of the body, such as, but not limited to,electroencephalography in the brain, electrooculography in the eye, andelectropneumography in the lungs.

The methods provided may include implementation in a general purposecomputer, a processor, or a processor core. Suitable processors include,by way of example, a general purpose processor, a special purposeprocessor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), aplurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in associationwith a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application SpecificIntegrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs)circuits, any other type of integrated circuit (IC), and/or a statemachine. Such processors can be manufactured by configuring amanufacturing process using the results of processed hardwaredescription language (HDL) instructions and other intermediary dataincluding netlists (such instructions capable of being stored on acomputer readable media). The results of such processing can be maskworks that are then used in a semiconductor manufacturing process tomanufacture a processor which implements the methods described herein.

The methods or flow charts provided herein may be implemented in acomputer program, software, or firmware incorporated in a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium for execution by a general purposecomputer or a processor. Examples of non-transitory computer-readablestorage mediums include a ROM, a random access memory (RAM), a register,cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media such asinternal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical media, andoptical media such as CD-ROM disks, and digital versatile disks (DVDs).

What is claimed is:
 1. A system configured to generate an enhancedelectrocardiogram (EKG) of a cardiac structure, the system comprising: acatheter configured for insertion into a chamber of the cardiacstructure, the catheter comprising: a plurality of electrodes configuredto measure an analog electrical signal of electrical activity of thecardiac structure over time; a transformer configured to remove a directcurrent (DC) offset of the analog electrical signal to generate ananalog electrical signal centered at 0 volts (V); the catheterconfigured to provide the analog electrical signal centered at 0 V to aconsole system, the console system comprising: an analog-to-digitalconverter (ADC) configured to sample the analog electrical signalcentered at 0 V and adjust a gain of the analog electrical signalcentered at 0 V to a maximum resolution of the ADC to produce a digitalelectrocardiogram (EKG) signal; and a processor configured to processthe digital EKG signal for output to a user.
 2. The system of claim 1configured as an electrocardiograph device.
 3. The system of claim 1,wherein the transformer is configured to remove the DC offset byemitting a low electric charge.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein themaximum resolution of the ADC is based on a dynamic voltage range of theADC.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the console system furthercomprises: a visual display device configured to visually display thedigital EKG signal.
 6. The system of claim 1 further comprising: bodysurface electrodes configured to capture a second analog electricalsignal of the electrical activity of the cardiac structure over time andprovide the second analog electrical signal to the console system. 7.The system of claim 1, wherein the catheter is further configured toemit a small electric charge to stimulate tissue in the cardiacstructure to detect a location of an arrhythmia.
 8. The system of claim1, wherein a position of the catheter is controlled manually by theuser.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the catheter further comprises:positioning sensors configured to generate position and orientationinformation of the catheter and provide the position and orientationinformation to the console system.
 10. The system of claim 9, whereinthe processor is further configured to process and provide the positionand orientation information of the catheter to the user.
 11. A methodfor generating an enhanced electrocardiogram (EKG) of a cardiacstructure, the method comprising: inserting a catheter into a chamber ofthe cardiac structure; measuring, by a plurality of electrodes mountedon the catheter, an analog electrical signal of electrical activity ofthe cardiac structure over time; removing, using a transformer mountedon the catheter, a direct current (DC) offset of the analog electricalsignal to generate an analog electrical signal centered at 0 volts (V);sampling the analog electrical signal centered at 0 V and adjusting again of the analog electrical signal centered at 0 V to a maximumresolution to produce a digital electrocardiogram (EKG) signal; andprocessing the digital EKG signal for output to a user.
 12. The methodof claim 11 performed by an electrocardiograph device.
 13. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the removing the DC offset includes emitting, by thetransformer, a low electric charge.
 14. The method of claim 11, whereinthe maximum resolution is based on a dynamic voltage range of ananalog-to-digital converter (ADC).
 15. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: visually displaying the digital EKG signal on a visualdisplay device.
 16. The method of claim 11 further comprising:measuring, by body surface electrodes, a second analog electrical signalof the electrical activity of the cardiac structure over time.
 17. Themethod of claim 11, further comprising: emitting, by the catheter, asmall electric charge to stimulate tissue in the cardiac structure todetect a location of an arrhythmia.
 18. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: manually controlling, by the user, a position of thecatheter.
 19. The method of claim 11, further comprising: generatingposition and orientation information of the catheter.
 20. The method ofclaim 19, further comprising: processing and providing the position andorientation information of the catheter to the user.